The Rev. Terry Greer, shown here preaching from the pulpit in Decatur, was highly regarded by clergy who say they knew him well and are shocked that he would hurt anybody, especially his own family. (Photo by John Godbey/Decatur Daily)

Friends of the Rev. Terry Greer say the man they knew was a warm, caring, compassionate pastor, who often expressed his love for his wife, daughter and parishioners.

They cannot understand how Greer, 54, could have killed his wife, Lisa, 52, and injured his daughter, Suzanna, 18, as Gardendale police say happened on Jan. 10. Greer is charged with murder and attempted murder.

"I can't think of any act more contrary to who Terry was," said the Rev. Keith Thompson, senior minister of First United Methodist Church of Birmingham. "He was an adoring husband and father."

After his daughter took the gun away, Greer stabbed himself in the neck and chest, Gardendale Police Chief Mike Walker said. Greer was taken to UAB Hospital and is recovering, under police guard. Suzanna has been released from the hospital and is being cared for by friends, said the Rev. Todd Henderson, senior minister of Alexander City First United Methodist Church.

Greer had been pastor of Gardendale-Mt. Vernon United Methodist Church since June, although he had been mostly unable to minister due to a series of serious health problems. Before that, he was pastor of Decatur First United Methodist Church for eight years.

"He was always the person who went in when everybody else was falling apart, stood by them tirelessly it seemed," said the Rev. Bill Brunson, whose parents were in Greer's congregation when he was pastor of Christ Central Methodist Church. "He was such a hard worker."

Thompson recalls walking through Decatur with Greer. "Almost everyone we passed, he called by name, asked about their family; he had an amazing memory for people and what was important to them," Thompson said.

Clergy who knew Greer say he was a selfless minister.

"He was very passionate about ministry, serving the church but mostly about being in relationship with people, seeing people come to Christ," said Brunson, senior minister of Vestavia Hills United Methodist Church. "He embraced the opportunity to talk to people and have them share their story. If they needed anything, they could call Terry."

The Rev. Brian Erickson, senior pastor of First United Methodist Church in Alabaster, said Greer was well known throughout the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church.

"Not only are people grieving for what's been done, it's a cognitive dissonance from this man we knew and the act that's been committed," Erickson said. "It's a double pain. Your mind and heart can't make it add up. You can't get from the Terry you know, to what's been done."

When Erickson's sister-in-law had a baby die soon after its birth, Greer comforted the family.

"Terry made such an impact not just on them but their extended family," Erickson said. "I get emotional thinking about it."

Greer was active in the community in Decatur and Gardendale until his latest health problems.

Former Gardendale Mayor Kenny Clemons attended Rotary Club with Greer and also attended Gardendale-Mt. Vernon and was on the North Alabama Conference finance committee with him.

"The brain of Terry was not the same when he did this as when he came to our church," Clemons said. "It could have been medication, illness, heart, concussion. I don't care what it was. We all know it was not something we saw coming. He was a blessing for our church; we were excited about having him at our church."

A series of events after his arrival in Gardendale seem to have changed Greer's course towards tragic.

He had previously had a heart attack, and several months ago was experiencing chest pains again. He attempted to drive himself to a hospital, but crashed into a guard rail.

"All I know is he passed out," Clemons said. The Greer family asked for privacy and no visitors at the hospital, he said.

As Greer tried to recover from the injuries he suffered in the car accident, he fell off the deck at the church-owned parsonage, breaking ribs and injuring his back. From October on, he mostly stayed in seclusion, church members say.

That in itself was out of character.

"He was involved in the community before he was injured," Clemons said.

"That obviously changed him and led him to a place of deep depression," Henderson said. "We are wishing we'd have done more, intervened earlier, read the signs better."

Thompson said that Greer was slower to respond when friends contacted him after the latest injuries.

"After his injury, I can't tell you what changed," Thompson said. "I haven't found a way to reconcile the person I've known and the events that happened. I can't give you a name of someone more unlikely. I continue to be stunned. It makes no sense. Why such as immense change? He loved his wife and daughter. Adoring is not too big a word."

Friends had been become so concerned, several of them planned an intervention as soon as he recovered from pneumonia, which he is still suffering from, Henderson said.

"We were going to go in and encourage him to get out of his funk," Henderson said. "We're second-guessing ourselves. We had no idea he was in that much despair, that dark a place. It haunts me. He had just cut himself off from people, and that's not him."

Greer is a native of Elizabethton, Tenn., who served in the U.S. Army for nine years. He was on the staff of the Deputy Commanding General at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. He earned his bachelor's degree from Athens State University, a master of divinity degree from Emory University and doctorate from Drew University, with a dissertation entitled "Christian Hospitality and Caring Evangelism."

He began serving in the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church in 1980. After serving as minister of evangelism at First United Methodist Church of Birmingham, he was appointed pastor of Central United Methodist in Gadsden, and led a relocation and construction project with a $2.5 million new church in Rainbow City, renamed Christ Central Church.

In Decatur, he led a $4.5 million construction and renovation project. "He was hands-on to a fault," Henderson said. "He picked the carpet, the paint, the design. We used to tell him you've got to be less hands-on. He did that at every church he served."

The North Alabama Conference has established the Suzanna Greer Fund to assist Greer's daughter.

"People are concerned with all she's gone through and what she's going to go through," Brunson said. "She's only half a semester into college."

The board of the Rotary Club in Gardendale voted Friday to contribute to the fund, and the Decatur club, where Greer had been a member, plans to donate also, Clemons said.

"I really feel for her," Clemons said. "She's lost her momma and her daddy."

Suzanna is a freshman majoring in marine biology at the University of South Alabama. Gardendale Police Chief Walker said that after Greer shot both his wife and daughter, Suzanna took the gun away from her father and ran to a neighbor for help. She gave police a detailed description of the incident, Walker said.

The funeral for her mother, Lisa Greer, is Tuesday at 2 p.m. at Scottsboro First United Methodist Church.

"We mourn the loss of Lisa," Brunson said. "She seemed to love the role of being a pastor's wife. So many people were benefited by her ministry."

"I pray the funeral can be about Lisa and not this," Erickson said.

"We live in a broken world where there aren't solutions and answers. In times of darkness, and times when we are stunned by how broken the world can be, who are we going to be on the other side of this. This is a moment of testing for all of us."